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Journalist sues Northwestern DA’s office for withholding names of officers accused of misconduct
The district attorney's office refused to release the unredacted public records even after state officials repeatedly intervened.
An independent journalist is suing the Northwestern District Attorney’s Office for withholding the names of police officers accused of crimes and misconduct from public records.
Filed in Suffolk Superior Court Monday, the lawsuit from Andrew Quemere — who runs the newsletter The Mass Dump — details an 18-month battle with the DA’s office over records related to the “Brady list,” a list some prosecutors keep of police officers who have been accused of misconduct that may impact their credibility as witnesses.
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Quemere first filed his public records request in January 2022. When the DA’s office turned over the documents two weeks later, it redacted the officers’ names and cited a privacy exemption under the state’s public records law.
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The redacted records detail allegations against officers that range from possessing child pornography to committing domestic violence and providing false testimony in court, among other crimes and misconduct.
Quemere filed three appeals with the secretary of the commonwealth’s Public Records Division, which repeatedly sided with Quemere and ordered the DA’s office to produce the unredacted documents. According to the lawsuit, the DA’s office refused to comply.
“[District Attorney] David Sullivan publishes press releases with the names of people he charged with crimes on his website, but he doesn’t want you to know the names of police officers who have been charged,” Quemere said in a news release. “He has had to rely on absurd arguments because he has no argument. He thought he could get away with breaking the law because I wouldn’t sue — he was wrong.”
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In a statement provided to Boston.com, the DA’s office said it has developed a Brady protocol to inform defense attorneys of any criminal wrongdoing or alleged misconduct by officers who are witnesses in pending prosecutions.
“However, the Office equally believes that law enforcement officers do not forfeit their right to privacy by virtue of their profession,” the statement continues. “Regardless of whose information is being sought, our Office routinely withholds or redacts records to guard against invasions of privacy, public embarrassment and reputational damage. We do not afford law enforcement officers any special privilege in this regard.”
Quemere’s attorney, Harvard Law School Cyberlaw Clinic instructor Mason Kortz, said in the news release that at the core of the case is the interpretation of a 2020 update the state Legislature made to the personal privacy exemption to clarify that it “shall not apply to records related to a law enforcement misconduct investigation.”
“We think the best interpretation is the most obvious one: When a police officer is suspected of unprofessional, unethical, or illegal conduct, the public has a right to know the results,” Kortz said in the release.
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For its part, the DA’s office said that recent amendments to the public records statute, the creation of the Peace Officer Standards and Training Commission, and “developments in appellate caselaw” have created uncertainty around the current state of Massachusetts’s public records law.
“We would welcome guidance from the Attorney General’s Office, the Legislature, and/or the Judiciary regarding whether our interpretation of the public records statute is correct,” the statement reads. “Beyond that, we cannot comment on the specifics of any pending litigation.”
Quemere, who frequently writes about police misconduct and government transparency, said his lawsuit demonstrates the need for state lawmakers to “step up and strengthen the public records law.”
He added: “We shouldn’t have to fight the same battles over and over again to access public information.”
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